How Team Impacts on the Environment and the Environment Impacts on the Team - Essay Example

Tuckman (Name) (Institution) (Grade/course) (Instructor’s Name) October 28, 2009 Introduction The Tuckman group framework model recognises three stages of team formation as forming, storming, norming performing and adjourning. Each of this stage has its unique characteristics from which the names have been derived. On the other hand, Kolb developed a group learning cycle that identifies various activities that groups should be involved in. While these two models were basically developed to serve teams in organizations, they have been successfully adapted in a learning environment. The Kolb model seeks to achieve a winning situation for both individual entities in a team, the team and organization itself. In a learning scenario, the Kolb cycle seeks to improve academic performance in each individual whereby the members of a single team empower one another. As such, a team should be as diversified as possible to increase breadth of and depth in knowledge as a team. Therefore, the composition of a team/group greatly determines the potential and capabilities of a team and the benefits that members will gain by working as a team (Michaelsen et al, 2002). This paper gives a personal account on the experiences of forming the group up to the final days of delivering its task and subsequent disbandment. Forming Concrete The forming stage is somehow self explanatory as it involves a number of individuals coming together to work on the same task collectively. Individuals are expected to be a bit apprehensive and anxious as they try to articulately identify their people they can identify with or they think they are compatible. I therefore sought to form a team together with my friends. Unfortunately, we could not al fit in one team which required 4-6 people therefore leaving me a loner. However, this according to my class notes should not be perceived as a challenge but a way of enriching the team’s potential. During this stage, the group faced a number of challenges in assigning different roles to a few individuals. At first, no one felt experienced enough to act as a team leader. The main fear as expressed by some of those proposed for the position of team leader was that the position required a lot of time and the leader had to be popular with all the members. The first person I proposed to be the team leader feared that he had so many commitments and thus feared that he could not effectively serve in that position. He thus suggested that we could hold our discussions via social website when we could not meet which seemed to be of an informal virtual team. However, the group insisted on actual meetings in person. Reflective I take it that there is unexplained fear over increased role and responsibilities to a team leader that discourages me and other four members of the group to take up the initiative out of free will. On my part, I figured that a team leader should be able to unite the members through an easy gong manner that will not create friction among team members. Previously, I only knew one member and hence I feared that my biased closeness with him might affect team performance if I was to be the leader. Abstract This was one of the biggest hurdles for our team. I happened to share nationality with only one of the other four members. This alone meant that the two of us had a subculture within the team. Diebel (2004) says that there is need to avoid student selected teams in class work. She says that students would tend to form teams according to their cultural orientation, friendship, nationality among other traits that undermine the power of diversity. Oakley, Felder, Brent, Felder and Elhaji (2004) say that student-selected teams have poor composition such as students of same qualities congregate together such as high performers with high performers and low performers with low performers. They therefore suggest that instructor s should choose team members. Diebel (2004) adds that the same as organizations, teams need to develop their own unique culture on which to base their activities. Cultural diversity is best incorporated by forming a team with varying cultural backgrounds though not conflicting ones. Active I realized that there is need to look beyond friendship when forming teams. Random selection of team members by the instructor facilitates social and cultural interaction between different class members that creates a good learning environment in the classroom. Our different experiences and cultural backgrounds created a good forum for creating a unique team culture as everyone made a contribution based on his own background. On the other hand, cultural differences are a potential source of conflict within a team. Ghosen (2008), an expert in team management insist on friendship rather than diversity in team composition. Storming Concrete Tuckman says that this stage involves the team members meeting and presenting their own ideas to the group on the way forward. The timing of meetings was the most controversial. Some members argued that meeting should be held at different venues to induce some variety while others argued that a definite meeting place was better. Given that all team members meet daily in their classes, it was argued that most communication between the team members such as setting up of meetings could be done by word of mouth and emails and telephone calls used as reminders. In our first meeting, we debated a lot on who to choose as group leader. I turned down the offer and opted fro a group secretary. Again there was heated debate whether to be shifting meeting places of to stick with one. We later unanimously agreed on a permanent meeting place. Reflective I think that instituting democracy in a team is the best way forward. This provides a forum for vetting all ideas and coming with all the best strategies. However, I noted that one member misused this aspect by criticizing any idea brought forward instead of adding something to the discussion. Later it was agreed that the individual had a pessimistic approach and was advised to work on his attitude. It as this stage that I realized that the initial politeness expressed in the earlier stages fades. Members came to reveal their true selves in the way they handles arguments and also the fact that two of the members were rebellious to authority in the name of the group leader. Abstract Diebel (2004) says that interaction is paramount to team performance. She views that interaction on a social level prepares individual team members for the challenges that lie ahead in handling the team’s task. Interaction also may be a potential pit fall for the team. Why? Oakley et al (2004) argue that it is likely that team meetings may be derailed into social gatherings where the discussion at hand may be derailed by other interactive talk and chit chat. Interactions also undermine the formal nature of an academic group or team as the perception of the task might be undermined. Active In the team, I realized that each member had his own individual values which worked for or against the team spirit. In this stage there was an over flow of ideas on how to approach the task ahead. In many occasions, members made jokes on another member’s idea. While this eased the tension of a huge workload ahead, it also brought closer. Unfortunately, if taken to the extreme, the team leader needs to stop it. Norming Concrete In this stage, the group leader assigned us our different roles. Each member was to carry extensive and intensive research on a certain topic. Research findings were to be presented to the team during team meetings. In order to allow for exhaustion of all the topics, it was agreed that team members would exchange the topics and review their findings and carry any further research where necessary. The team allowed each member to draft his personal views on the best way to achieve the team’s goals. In order to avoid deviating from the task in our meetings, we agreed on setting up some rules to help us also manage our time. Some the rules pertained to seriousness in our discussions, punctuality and contributions. Financial fines were to be imposed on members for unexplained lateness and absenteeism in team meetings. The money collected would be later donated to the school’s charity fund. Reflection In devising on our way forward, the team gave a lot of weight to discussing group dynamics other than on strategizing on the task at hand. For instance, the team spent quite considerable amount of time before we could agree on the type of fines to be charged for late arrivals for team meetings. Still after agreeing on how best to utilize to fin late comers, other issues developed on how to use the money. These discussions consumed valuable time of our meetings that could have been utilized otherwise. Abstract According to Tuckman (1995), this stage is characterised by members getting used to each other and starting on the task. However, there are chances that in case one or more of member of the team feel unsatisfied by existing arrangements and assigned roles in the team, the team drops back to the storming stage (Laan, & Spindle, 2007). Such conflict may develop in many forms. For instance in formulation of the teams governing rules, the team dropped back to the storming stage. Sharing of power and perceptions among members are most common causes of conflict in a team that derail the progress of the team. If the conflicts are not resolved in time, they impact on the performance of the team (Tuckman, 1995; Diebel, 2004). Active Team building is something that develops beyond the completion of the task and set objectives and goals. Members get to bond and interact on a social level which often develops into friendship. However, competition in teams may create a hostile environment. It can also create unhealthy competition between different teams thereby polarising classroom relations. Therefore, the adjourning of a team may be viewed to be both negative and positive depending on the preceding circumstances. In my view, I observed that the most fines member for lateness in my team was happy that the team was to be disbanded. Performing Concrete The team has displayed a lot of creativity from the initial stages. This gave a peek view of the expected challenges in harmonising the different thoughts from individual members. Fortunately, the team’s leader happened to posses good managerial and leadership skills that came in handy in steering the team ahead. Personally, I felt that the team leader had been assigned a lot of power in making some crucial decisions. For instance, if felt his authority to impose a fine on me after I failed to attend a group meeting owing to a personal commitment was excessive. At first, I argued with him and even threatened not to pay the fine but later agreed after being convinced by other team members. For the two subsequent meetings, I remained a bit rebellious contributing only technically to group discussions. Reflective The way our team handled our case was a little bit different from the way I expected the process to be. For instance the team could not evaluate well at which stage we were in going by Tuckman’s model. In fact it was hard to precisely identify the transition. This is because a point of argument arose constantly something according to the Tuckman model should have been done away with in the storming stage. Again, the team had no formal structure with authority and hence team leader’s decisions were highly challenged. Abstract Tuckman claims that the breaking away of the team is characterised by a sense of emotions or relief. Those who enjoyed the team structure feel sad to lose it while those who despised it feel relief after its dismantling. Members of a team might have enjoyed their working together and developed a unique way of relating to each other and a team culture. Therefore, when the task is complete, the group has to be dismantled (Susan & Jerry, 1998). Active The team leader made observations on individual member’s contribution to the whole project. He emphasised on the need to be critical in a positive manner to one another’s ideas. This increased depth in our knowledge base in that particular task. I realised that members need constant motivation to make researched contributions to the team and carry out private studies o the task and not solely relying on group discussions. In fact, a discussion should be close to a joint review of what individual members have done prior to the meeting. Adjourning Concrete This group is the final one according to the Tuckman model. He explained that a team should be dismantled after exhausting its usefulness. In the same length the team organized for the final activities of the team. One of the core issues as had earlier been mentioned was how to handle the fines imposed on members over lateness. One of the most vocal member, but one who happened to have succumbed to many instances of arriving late with weak excuses felt that the amount given away was rightfully his. He argued that he should be refunded a fraction of the money or at least the team members divide the money among themselves if anything. This idea was shot down as it contravened the team’s guiding rules. This aspect angered me and a time I was happy I would not be meeting Abstract Conventionally, members of a group are expected to have developed some bonding and hence some emotional connection between members. However, the team had outlived its usefulness and had to be dismantled. Each group member moved on to their individual studying methods though some friendship had been established. Reflective As the end of the team activity, I felt really good to have had an opportunity to make new friends at interact with them at another level. This activity also gave me a sneak preview of why organizations have been moving towards teams in management. In team’s jobs are split up fairly between members without involving the instructor which creates a sense of independence. Discussions also assure one on the direction one is taking on the assigned piece of work. Members can also be a source of motivation. Active Going by how easily the task was handled and the depth of research carried out and the varying approach to a single problem proved to me that there lie so many unexplored perspectives in knowledge. I liked the part where team members reviewed each other’s work and criticised it where necessary. This helps one to get a better understanding of the task at hand and incorporate views of other team members. Conclusion The whole team idea was beneficial to all members in my opinion. However, the meetings and fines imposed on lateness and absenteeism was a real test for self discipline. In all, I developed an image of a team in my mind to help me understand how best a team works. This is in the form of a living organism whereby the assembling of individual members into a team means that the organism is adopting traits and genes from the environment. On one hand, the team impacts on the environment and at the same time the environment impacts on the team, the environment here being the learning. The most important aspect for a team to work is a positive attitude which should also impact on the environment. The environment also impacted on how our team performed. The need to deliver and achieve a good grade was a driving factor for the team to meet despite other pressing issues and commitments. As such, it appears that the greater the task, the higher the satisfaction in achieving and winning. I therefore feel that a team has the potential to help individual members perform better academically and is very essential as a revision tool powered by internal competition. References Diebel, (2004). Team Formation Methods for Increasing Interaction During In-Class Group Work, (Retrieved on 1st Nov 2009 from, www.cs.washington.edu/research/edtech/.../deibel-iticse-2005.ppt Ghosen, J. (2008). Friendship, Not Diversity, More Critical to Team Performance, (Retrieved on 1st Nov 2009 from), http://mgt.buffalo.edu/about/News/teamsbalkundi Laan, J. V. & Spindle, R. (2007). The impact of group formation in a cooperative learning environment, Retrieved from Science Direct database Michaelsen, L., Knight, B. & Fink, D. (2002). Team-based learning: a transformative use of small groups, New York: Greenwood Publishing Group Oakley, B., Brent, R., Felder, R.M. & Elhaji, I. (2004) Turning student groups into effective teams. Journal of student centered learning. 2 (1) 9-342 (1) 9-34 Susan, T. & Jerry, R. (1998) Assessing team performance, (Retrieved on 1st Nov 2009 from), http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/contentdelivery/servlet/ERICServlet?accno=ED422305 Tuckman, B. (1995) Developmental sequence in small groups, (Retrieved on 1st Nov 2009 from), http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3954/is_200104/ai_n8943663/?tag=content;col1 Bibliography list Blackman, D. & Kelley, L. (2005). In addition to shared goals: the impact of mental models on team innovation and learning, International Journal of Innovation and Learning Vol. 2, No. 1 pp 11 – 25 Ghosen, J. (2008). Friendship, Not Diversity, More Critical to Team Performance, (Retrieved on 1st Nov 2009 from), http://mgt.buffalo.edu/about/News/teamsbalkundi Hancock, D. (2004).Cooperative Learning and Peer Orientation Effects on Motivation and Achievement, The Journal of Educational Research Vol. 97, No. 3 pp. 159 – 168 Kahn, J. (1995). Group process checkpoints for team learning in the classroom, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Vol. 14, No. 2 (Spring, 1995), pp. 310-326 Kolb Team Learning Experience Facilitator’s Guide, (Retrieved on 1st Nov 2009 from), http://www.haygroup.com/tl/Downloads/TLE_Facilitator_Guide.pdf Laan, J. V. & Spindle, R. (2007). The impact of group formation in a cooperative learning environment, Retrieved from Science Direct database Michaelsen, L., Knight, B. & Fink, D. (2002). Team-based learning: a transformative use of small groups, New York: Greenwood Publishing Group Scott-Ladd, M. & Chan, C. (2008) Using action research to teach students to manage team learning and improve teamwork satisfaction, Active Learning in Higher Education Journal, Vol. 9, No. 3, pp. 231-248 Susan, T. & Jerry, R. (1998) Assessing team performance, (Retrieved on 1st Nov 2009 from), http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/contentdelivery/servlet/ERICServlet?accno=ED422305 Team Formation Methods for Increasing Interaction During In Class Group Work, (Retrieved on 1st Nov 2009 from), www.cs.washington.edu/research/edtech/.../dei05-iticse.pdf Tuckman, B. (1995) Developmental sequence in small groups, (Retrieved on 1st Nov 2009 from), http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3954/is_200104/ai_n8943663/?tag=content;col1 Read More